Leonard began sorting through the races as quickly as he could. He immediately eliminated any of the goblinoid, living dead, or any other race that either creeped him out or he couldn’t pronounce. A squid looking beast-kin with psionic abilities? Cool, but not for him. He already had a low charisma score. No sense in purposefully lowering it further.

  Trolls were the next to go. Sure, they had high attribute allocation and over the top regeneration abilities, but the prompts clearly stated they were hunted for sport. Not to mention they were just plain ugly!

  Aquatic races were the next to go. The idea of living in an Atlantis style home might appeal to some, but not him. Seriously, who willingly lived with sharks?

  After what felt like hours of research, Leonard narrowed his choices to aerials, a leopard beastkin, or dwarves. But it wasn’t until he opened the prompt on elves that knew he had found what he was looking for.

  On the surface, the elves seemed to have it all. A world sprawling society that was respected and powerful. But it was when he looked into the first sub-race that Leonard knew he had found the race for him.

  Leonard’s smile kept growing the more he read. Not only did royal elves get six stat points per level, the highest number he had found thus far, but he would have access to all eight spheres of magic!

  Change his race, gain magic and adjust his name for the low cost of one boon? Leonard couldn’t help himself from dancing another jig before selecting yes.

  More prompts appeared, but Leonard immediately focused on adjusting his name. He began by removing - not Moron - from his status page, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he deleted his first name as well.

  Throughout his life, Leonard had been judged based on the name of his father, and his father’s father going back three generations. Ever since he could remember, he had been forcibly reminded at every turn that he could never measure up.

  Deleting his name was like casting off a lifetime of repression, and it felt great!

  The moment his name was gone another prompt appeared.

  A smile tugged at his lips. He loved easy buttons!

  Ignoring the prompt about the skill, Leonard selected yes to the names.

  An incredibly long list of names appeared, which he quickly filtered. He started by removing the common names as well as the ones with less than stellar meanings. Like Drey’mar, which meant ‘lost; one who hides.’

  Leonard chuckled. That would be a great name for a lieutenant.

  His search continued for longer than he cared to admit. But he didn’t care. He would take whatever time was necessary to find something that he felt was a true reflection of himself. Or at the very least, a reflection of who he wanted to become.

  Time flowed by and Leonard narrowed the list to three possibilities.

  The choice was obvious. Cael lacked the flair he was looking for even though its meaning was nothing short of awesome. Who didn't want to be victorious?

  In contrast, he liked how Mahvin flowed off the tongue. Also, having a name that quite literally meant wanderer fit him perfectly. But what stopped him from selecting the option was the other warning sign. Namely, he wanted to avoid anything close to what sounded like a saint. Who knew what problems that would cause?

  Best to avoid it all together, which left Kedryn. The name definitely had a ring to it, like it was meant for royalty. The meaning alone resonated with him as well. Who didn’t want to be known for leadership and fearlessness?

  Smiling, Leonard made the adjustments to his new name and looked at the next prompt.

  His first titles! He had no idea what Bei meant, seeing as the prompt didn’t provide any further explanation, but he couldn’t wait to figure it out. That, and who didn’t want a royal title?

  With a grin, he hit accept.

  A three-dimensional image appeared next to his screen with the ideal image of what he would soon look like. His overall structure had adapted to become leaner, with sharp facial features and higher cheekbones. Obviously, his ears were pointed. But surprisingly, his hair had changed to a burnished silver with dark highlights. It was a bit much for him, but when he tried to adjust it, another prompt appeared stating the silver hair was a racial feature of royal elves. Even his eye color had changed to a dark silver.

  In short, he looked awesome!

  Leonard's brow furrowed as he pondered how to choose. Selecting a sphere of magic could make or break him in his soon to be new life. The problem was, choosing a single sphere of magic was like picking which cheerleader he wanted to take to prom. He couldn’t pick just one!

  Not that the cheerleading squad in high school had ever given him the time of day. But that was the old Leonard. Now he was Kedryn! A silver eyed royal elf that girls couldn’t say no to!

  His self-esteem placated, Leonard turned to the very real problem of magic.

  In an effort to trick the Adjudicators, he tried sorting the listed spheres of magic by power. This was followed by a prompt clearly articulating that each sphere of magic was equally balanced and powerful in its own right.

  Not exactly helpful.

  Next, he tried to sort by spell availability, which had prompted another notification asking if he wanted to use a boon to gain the skill Arcane Knowledge. Tempting, but no. It was like the Adjudicators were trying to waste his precious boons!

  Lastly, he tried to sort by rarity. This time the list changed.

  The fact that fire was listed as the most rare confused him. In his experience, fire was one of the more common powers. Of course, his experience was based on made up games and stories, which meant he really didn’t know much.

  Curious, he mentally pulled up its description.

  Grumbling at the lack of information, he began reading into the other elements, only to be given the same generic information. The only differences were that of Astral and Corporeal magic.

  Body enhancement and spiritual manipulation were intriguing but lacked the raw power he was looking for.

  With the limited information available, he selected fire. Not only was it the rarest of the magics available to him, but it could provide light, heat, and could be used as a weapon. It just made sense.

  Rubbing his hands together, Leonard, now Kedryn, reviewed his status page.

  The attributes had shifted again, supposedly to account for his soon to be new body. He was pleased to see that his dexterity, intelligence, and charisma were higher. Unfortunately, his strength, constitution, and endurance had suffered based of his new racial weaknesses. Still, he had gained four attribute points and lost three. An overall net gain of one. He’d just have to plan how best to balance out his build after he gained his first level.

  Next, he scrolled down and saw that fire attunement was at 1%. Not exactly inspiring.

  Curious, he asked if he could spend another boon to enhance his attunement.

  He selected yes without hesitation. If attunement equaled power like he assumed, then it was likely better to start out with something higher than 1%. It might also mean he could bypass novice level spells and get straight to the good stuff!

  Visions of raining balls of fire down on enemies while launching himself in the air Ozai style filled his mind!

  There was one boon left.

  Leonard looked over his status screen and selected Brands. This time, a prompt in bold red lettering appeared.

  Leonard decided it was best he didn’t mess with the brands. He soon discovered that he couldn’t do anything about titles or specializations either. Apparently, those had to be earned.

  Smiling, he began singing ‘Can’t Stop Me Now!’ inside his head.

  There were wide ranging abilities like those of identification, water breathing, night vision, dark vision, transmutation, and empowerment; each with distinct pros and cons. Transmutation, for example, gave someone the ability to change any substance into another, given you had the correct number of resources and mana.

  Any of these abilities could be a force multiplier. The problem was, the list was endless. Scrolling as quickly as he could, he searched for something that would help him shore up the obvious weaknesses in his build. He had a solid foundation for magic, but lacked physical attributes and skills. In short, he was well on his way to becoming the proverbial glass cannon.

  He needed something that would help balance him out.

  After another hour of searching, he finally found what he was looking for.

  An increase in skill, attribute growth, and attunements all while being given the chance to learn other racial skills and abilities?

  He couldn’t hit yes fast enough.

  A final prompt appeared.

  Heart pounding with excitement, Leonard, who would soon be known as Kedryn, made his choice.

  The moment he selected yes, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

  “Corporal Wolf?”